In the current global economic scenario, timely and efficient management of Intellectual Property (IP) in premier academic and research institutions has become critical. Apart from producing skilled manpower, institutes such as the IITs are major generators of innovative products and services. Most of the IITs have already initiated institutional IP management activities. For providing a further fillip to such activities, the IPR unit* of IIT Bombay organized a two-day Pan-IIT workshop on 'Management of Intellectual Property in Academia'. Held on the 26th and 27th of February 2004 at IIT Bombay, the idea of hosting such a workshop was originally conceived by Prof. Ashok Misra (Director, IIT Bombay), as a sequel to a Pan-IIT road show conducted in the US about 6 months ago.

Targeted at all the IITs and other academic institutions , and the heads of their IPR units, the workshop was unique in the sense that it was made possible by spontaneous and honorary participation of several specialist speakers and professionals. Dr Raj Dave (IIT alumnus, and Patent Attorney, Morrison & Foerster, USA) was instrumental in bringing in a delegation of distinguished American IP experts and industry representatives, who provided an insight into the current status of IPR issues on an international level. The presentations were followed by lively and highly interactive panel discussions, which addressed the deeper issues of IP protection from the standpoint of innovators or creators of IP, and the institution as a whole.

In a succinct speech, the eminent lawyer, Mr. Ram Jethmalani, who was present during the inauguration of the event, acknowledged the superiority and the significance of intellectual property in today's business environment. However, he also put forth a caveat on the importance of exercising global control of what could turn out to be a potentially lethal tool.

The workshop covered a gamut of issues which included the following:

• Managing IPR in academia: national and global experience

• Building Institutional IP Policy for academic institutions: conflicts, critical issues and challenges

• Valuation and protection of IP in a global context.

• IP protection in Technology Transfer: price, royalty stru-c ctures, other terms and conditions.

• Experimental exemptions in patents/designs dealing with selection of projects, assignment of rights, liabili- ties, and planning research.

• Case Studies in IPR litigations involving academic institutions

• Entrepreneurship development and IPR

• Copyright issues in academics

Several interesting themes emerged from the deliberations; one of these was the need for evolving a strong institutional IP policy that would clearly address the inherent complexities in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. With the overlap of disciplines and a blurring of boundaries between upstream and downstream research, issues concerning multiple ownerships can be expected to arise–especially in externally funded research projects, and Technology Business Incubation activities. An ideal policy would therefore be one that successfully protects the interests of the innovator (student or faculty), the institute, the sponsor, and the society at large. Such a policy would also help the institute in developing a coherent philosophy, and in achieving its Vision and Mission. As noted by Prof. P Ganguli, "in the present global framework, IPR has come in at the point of idea generation and the challenge lies in managing it from here up to commercial production".

On a national scale, the need of the times is a legislation that will address ownership issues of externally funded projects, similar to the Bayh-Dole Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act of the US (1980). Institutions such as the IITs can impress upon the government, the need for such legislations.
Next on the Pan-IIT Board's agenda is the organization of a National Workshop on IPR with large participation from the industry. The event would aim to highlight the role of IP in national wealth generation, and inform the industry about the IP management initiatives in the academia. It would also dwell on the need for evolving an organizational R&D strategy in the emerging scenario. The proceedings of the workshop will be shortly brought out by the institute.

List of speakers   Judge Randall R Rader, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals, USA Prof Martin Adelman, Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School, USA Dr Raj Dave, Patent Attorney, Morrison & Foerster, USA Mr R S Minisandram, Executive Director of IP, Seagate Technology LLC, USA Mr David Simon, Director of IP, Intel Corp. USA Mr Paul Stone, VP and Chief Patent Counsel, Symyx Technologies Inc. Mr Stephen Durant, Partner, Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco. Mr Marc Adler, Chief IP Counsel, Rohm & Haas, USA Mr Raghav Saha, Advisor, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India Mr T C James, Deputy Secretary DIPP, Govt. of India Mr Manoj Menda , Advocate Prof P Ganguli, Advisor, Vision IPR, Mumbai

* The IPR Unit at IITB: Prof Karuna Jain (Co-ordinator) and Prof Shishir Kumar Jha (Shailesh J Mehta School of Management), Prof Prabuddha Ganguli (Advisor, Vision IPR), and Dr Padma Satish (IRCC)

Home | Top